Newsletter

Feb-March 2 9

www.youthbridgeny.org

Marsha Haygood Teaches YouthBridge-NY Inside this issue:

Fellows About Public Speaking
On January 26, 2009, make sure the entire room may hear. Marsha Haygood 1
the YouthBridge-NY She was very engaging and it was obvi- Teaches YouthBridge-
General Meeting was ous she knew what she was talking NY Fellows About
Public Speaking
held at the Board about as she
Room of One Hun- was an excel-
Alumni Ice Skating in 1
dred Black Men. Mar- lent public Bryant Park
sha Haygood, who is speaker herself!
also a YB-NY Board It was easy for YB-NY Fellow 2
Marsha Haygood giving Member, trained the Fellows to ask Spotlight: Kevin Lin
tips to the Fellows
Fellows in enhancing questions and
their public speaking skills. She gave them be involved Ms. Haygood teaching Fellows Ways to Get What 2
how to vocalize properly You Want
tips on how to refrain from saying “like” since it gave
and “um” too many times. Additionally, them the opportunity to practice what
Committee Updates 3
she advised them on how to dress, act, they had recently learned. It was a
and deal with “mishaps” while speaking. great meeting and gave Fellows the
She stressed how important it is to main- opportunity to learn this vital skill that Save the Date:
YouthBridge-NY
tain eye contact with everyone in the all leaders must have.
Cocktail Reception:
room, to enunciate their words and to -Santiago Mueckay, YB-NY Fellow February 26th, 2009

Alumni Ice Skating in Bryant Park

The YouthBridge-NY Alumni
Partnership reunited on De-
cember 29, 2008 at The Pond
at Bryant Park for the very first
Alumni Ice Skating Trip. The
attendees included Emmanuel
Afrifa (Swarthmore ‘11),
Alumni from left to right: Cheryl-
Cheryl-Ann Bisram (NYU
Ann Bisram, Kevin Shi, and '12), Preethulina Kowshik
Preethulina Kowshik (NYU Stern '11), Kevin Shi
(NYU Stern '11), Amy Tong
(Binghamton '11), and Victor Wong (Harvard '11). The
alumni supported each other in their endeavors to circle
the rink while conquering the human obstacle course persis-
tently present at The Pond. After several hours of skating,
the alumni sat down for dinner at a nearby fast food
restaurant and traded
fun stories about their
college experiences. Un-
willing to leave each
other after dinner, the
group traipsed back to
Bryant Park, where they
watched the evening
crowd on The Pond and Alumni from left to right:
collectively reflected on Victor Wong, Amy Tong, and
life and love. When it Emmanuel Afrifa
started getting late, the group reluctantly de-
parted, looking forward to the next YouthBridge-
NY Alumni reunion event.
-Victor Wong, YB-NY Alumus ‘08

YouthBridge-NY is managed by CAUSE-NY, a division of the Commission on Intergroup Relations &

Community Concerns at the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. The JCRC is an affiliate
of UJA-Federation of NY.
YouthBridge-NY Fellow Spotlight: Kevin Lin
The first time
Kevin had ever
heard of
YouthBridge-NY
was when he saw
YB-NY Alumnus
Victor Wong's
photograph and
experiences plas-
tered in the Education section of a
Chinese newspaper called “World
Journal”. Extremely interested in an
opportunity like Victor's, Kevin ap-
plied and became a YB-NY Fellow at
the start of his ninth grade year.
YouthBridge-NY has played a
transformative role in Kevin's life. In
fact, he remembers his ninth grade
year when he would sit in meetings
and take in the conversations, but
participate on a very small scale. Af-
ter all, he was one of the youngest
members in a large group of junior
and senior students. However, as
Kevin gained more YouthBridge-NY
experience he decided to "take the
bull by the horns," as they say. He
became a YB-NY Intern and began
to seize as many opportunities as he
could. This included going onstage
at the Martin Luther King Breakfast
and making cold calls for the fund-
raiser last year in order to practice
Kevin building with Habitat for
Humanity-NYC
his communication skills. Through-
out his years at YouthBridge-NY, he
has gained valuable knowledge and
skills that he can use towards achiev-
ing all of his future aspirations. Cur-
rently, he is a part of the Shared
Resources for a Shared Future com-
mittee and the Diversity Lens
committee.
Besides for participating in
YouthBridge-NY, Kevin attends the
Horace Mann School and is en-
gaged in many clubs. For one, he is
the Vice President of the East Wind
West Wind Asian Culture Club. In
that position he has planned stu-
dent events and bake-sale fundrais-
ers for the sake of educating his fel-
low students about Asian culture. In
addition, he is also the Senior Edi-
tor of the Horace Mann Review, his
school's political magazine and Jun-
ior Officer for the Model Congress
debate club. Kevin has gained valu-
able experiences from all of these
extra-curricular activities.
Although Kevin is still a half a
year away from college applications,
he is thinking of majoring in eco-
nomics and politics. He hopes to go
to college to learn ways that he can
make the world better through crea-
tive capitalism.

Ways to Get What You Want

Members from the Engaging
Workplace Diversity committee
met with Clement Booth (far
left), North American Chair of
Global Investors Allianz and
Christopher Worthley (second
from the left), Executive Direc-
tor of the Allianz Foundation
for North America.
Feb-March 2009
At the General Meeting on December 22nd, 2008, YB-NY Fellows met with
Erez Harari who is getting his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Fordham Univer-
sity. Erez currently works as a therapist at Bellevue Hospital doing Dialectical Be-
havior Therapy with patients with severe personality disorders. He also worked as
a group and individual therapist with substance abusers.
He began the meeting by asking for any type of conflict that the Fellows had
experienced recently. The most common were matters that dealt with parents,
teachers and friends. Erez said to always keep in mind D.E.A.R. M.A.N. G.I.V.E.
F.A.S.T., which is an acronym that describes ways of directing the conversation
by using rational statements and emotional self-awareness. It allows both sides of
the argument to benefit and be heard. The Fellows engaged in a few role-playing
scenarios using the examples of conflict they had mentioned earlier. After each
demonstration, questions were raised on whether the individual’s feelings were
being addressed, if there was a compromise and if the conversation stayed on
topic.
The meeting wrapped up with a few important tips: be clear with what you
want by expressing your opinions, make sure the person does not feel threatened
by your statements, and press the importance that whatever you are arguing for is
what you truly want. Fellows understood that communicating respectfully and
appropriately is a crucial skill for leaders to have.
-Hui Xian Lin, YB-NY Fellow
Page 2
Committee Updates
The Diversity Lens commit-
tee met on January 13th, 2009
to discuss the photos they had
taken in the course of the last
month. The meetings will cul-
minate with the preparation of
an exhibition at the
“Conflict” by Timmy Li, member
YouthBridge-NY closing ban- of the Diversity Lens committee
quet on June 15, 2009. Kodak
has also agreed to support the committee by donating
equipment such as cameras and a photo printer.
Over the past several meetings, the Shared Re-
sources for a Shared Future committee has been prepar-
ing for the upcoming YouthBridge-NY Reception in Feb-
ruary. The YB-NY Fellows have also been learning the
keys to effective grant making and has continued to dis-
cuss, implement and even alter its grant making process.
The Shared Resources committee also welcomed Mia
Herndon from the Third Wave Foundation, which does
philanthropic advocacy, strategic grant-making and lead-
ership development mainly for women and transgender
youth.
The Social Marketing and Media committee met on
January 21st, 2009 at the New York Times building.
YB-NY Fellows met with advertising representatives
Karen List, Laurie Wienert and Matthew White to
discuss the challenges and opportunities in advertising,
both in print and online, and also had the opportunity
to tour the new building.
On January 12th, 2009, the Allianz Engaging
Workplace Diversity committee welcomed Antoinette
Hamilton, Director of Diversity and Inclusion at
L’Oreal U.S.A., to speak about the importance of un-
derstanding one’s own personality and work habits, as
well as the importance of bringing diverse personalities
together to create a successful workplace. On February
9th, the Allianz Engaging Diversity committee also
invited Christopher Worthley, Executive Director of
the Allianz Foundation for North America, to teach
them the benefits of running a diverse business.
Through an interactive workshop, Christopher dem-
onstrated the importance of building business relation-
ships with diverse companies and the value of bringing
diverse consultants to the table.
-Timmy Li and Ethan Stein, YB-NY Fellows

YouthBridge-NY Reception

Martin Thomas Grace

Sheldon
Bienenstock Early Lyu-Volckhausen
Silver
Dewey & Health Plus Tiger Baron New York State
LeBoeuf LLP Foundation Assembly
Speaker
Leaders to
Thursday, February 26, 2009 Leaders award
6:00 pm — Cocktail Reception
7:00 pm — Program
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP
1177 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY
Contact: Steve Klein at KleinS@jcrcny.org or 212-983-4800 x 147

YouthBridge-NY Staff
Bob Kaplan Monica Merlis Kevin Lin
JCRC-NY/CAUSE-NY JCRC-NY/CAUSE-NY YouthBridge-NY Fellow
Director, CAUSE-NY Program Coordinator, YB-NY Intern, YB-NY

Emily Loubaton Karen Lander Ravi Seujattan

JCRC-NY/CAUSE-NY JCRC-NY/CAUSE-NY YouthBridge-NY Fellow
Program Director, YB-NY Social Work Intern, YB-NY Intern, YB-NY
Feb-March 2009 Page 3
YouthBridge-NY Board of Directors
Abenaa Abboa-Offei, Affinity Health Plan
Alejandro Munoz, YouthBridge-NY Fellow Alumnus
Anna Carbonell, WNBC- 4 New York
Charlotte Frank, The McGraw-Hill Companies
David Chen,
Chinese-American Planning Council, Inc.
Debbie Almontaser, NYC Department of Education
Dorothy Bowser, NYC Department of Education
Grace Lyu-Volckhausen, Tiger Baron Foundation
Hector Gesualdo, ASPIRA of New York
Ivy Cohen,
Ivy Cohen Corporate Communications, Inc.
Jennifer Frommer, CondeNét
Joanne Oplustil, CAMBA
Joe Korner, Astoria Graphics
Keith Brauer, Health Plus
Lorraine Watson, Rubenstein Associates, Inc.
Marsha Haygood, StepWise Associates
Martin Bienenstock, Dewey & LeBouef LLP
Marvin Jacob, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
YouthBridge-NY Fellows 2008/2009
Bianca Rey, Hunter College High School
Caroline Lobel, Ramaz Upper School
Esther Ha, Roslyn High School
Ethan Stein, Ramaz Upper School
Evan Leung, Midwood High School
Gario Graham, High School for Law Enforcement and
Public Safety
Gila Schwarzschild, Ramaz Upper School
Hui Xian Lin, High School for Environmental Studies
Jacki Bryk, Ramaz Upper School
Jane Shi, Bayside High School
Kenny Yu, Stuyvesant High School
Kevin Lin, Horace Mann School
Laura Halperin, Floral Park Memorial High School
Merlin Valdez, Washington Irving High School
Michelle Caballero, High School of Economics and
Finance
Feb-March 2009
Matthew Hiltzik, Hiltzik Strategies, LLC
Michael S. Miller,
Jewish Community Relations Council of NY
Mohammad Razvi, Council of Peoples Organization
Ninfa Segarra, Esq., Tonio Burgos and Associates, Inc.
Pat McGann, Community Consultant
Philip Banks, Jr., One Hundred Black Men
Rami Nuseir, American Mideast Leadership Network
Serafin U. Mariel, New York National Bank
Sylvia Deutsch, Chair Emeritus, CAUSE-NY
_______________________________________
Founding Directors (Ex-Officio)
Hon. Dennis M. Walcott,
Office of the Mayor of the City of New York
Ira M. Millstein, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
Michael Gill, GillWright Group
Virginia Kee, Chinese-American Planning Council,
Inc.
Moe Pyar, High School of American Studies
Peter Daskalov, Bayside High School
Ravi Seujattan, High School for Environmental Studies
Raya Abat, St. Vincent Ferrer High School
Renee Kim, St. Francis Preparatory High School
Ronald Jeganatahn, Susan E. Wagner High School
Sam Gersten, Ramaz Upper School
Sanitago Mueckay, Stuyvesant High School
Sean Wong, Stuyvesant High School
Segufta Amin, Bayside High School
Stella Cao, Stuyvesant High School
Steven Jung, Susan E. Wagner High School
Supreet Kaur, High School for Environmental Studies
Timmy Li, Hunter College High School
Waheed Ameen, High School for Law Enforcement and
Public Safety
Page 4